Kevin Feige Responds to Spielberg's Superhero Comments
Last month, Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg made comments regarding his thoughts on the superhero movie boom that's swept across the Hollywood landscape this past decade.
Spielberg said: "There will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western." Spielberg makes a strong point that holds a lot of truth; fads come and go in movies just like they do in fashion, music and art. Everything has a shelf life. Remember the disaster movie explosion in the '70s?
It comes as no surprise that Marvel chief Kevin Feige has responded to Spielberg's comments defending the honour of his studios universe.
During his press tour for the home entertainment release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Feige was asked by IGN about the chances of the superhero genre one day dying out. Feige said: "People have been asking me that for 15 years. In 2001, 2002, 2003 there were two Marvel movies, three Marvel movies, and I still believe the same thing, which is as long as the ones that we can control are as good as they can be, that’s all that I care about. I think we’ve been doing pretty well. I’m very confident in the films we’ve announced that we have coming forward that they’re going to be surprising and different and unique. I’ve said a lot: I don’t believe in the comic book genre. I don’t believe in the superhero genre. I believe that each of our films can be very different."
He continued: "It could die out, but the Western lasted 40-50 years, and they still pop up occasionally. It’s been, what, eight years since Iron Man if we count that, which I do, as the beginning of our MCU? Maybe the superhero genre will only last another 42 years."
Just like Spielberg, Feige makes some valid points, too. Whatever your standpoint might be on the genre, it's becoming increasingly more evident that some audiences are beginning to split and become tiresome regarding the amount of superhero movies that saturate our local multiplexes on a yearly basis. However, if they remain contemporary, profitable and offer up stories and characters that remain attractive to their demographic, they may be around for quite some time to come.
